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International Email Marketing: How to Master Time Zones
litmus.com
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Optimizing send times for an international audience “Based on the results of geolocation analysis, email marketers can choose between two strategies: Choosing a send time based on the most important time zone, or segmenting their list to optimize for different time zones individually.” Prioritizing time zones
Segment your list by location to optimize send times in each time zone “If your subscribers span across a range of time zones, and important markets aren’t close to each other,segmenting your listcan be the best approach.” But what if you don’t have the geolocation information for all of your subscribers? This can happen when you only track location with email opens, but not during the sign-up process. Most geolocation analytics rely on a tracking pixel that loads when a subscriber opens your message. If subscribers have not opened any of your emails before—because they’re new on your list or an inactive subscriber, for example—email analytics can’t provide geolocation data for them. Or, if they are reading your email with images disabled, then geolocation data won’t be counted.
So what can you do? Create a segment and pick a send time for all subscribers that lack reliable time zone information. You can pick your local time zone or the one of your largest market for this fallback segment. “A segmented approach not only allows you to send emails at the same time in each time zone (for example, always at noon local time), but also gives you the opportunity to test and optimize send times in each location.” Depending on the range of time zones you cover, the number of segments you choose, and the level of testing you commit to, this approach can become very complex and time consuming. However, accounting for local differences and acting on them when sending emails can be a powerful way to increase open and click rates with your international audience.
Get to know your audience: Where are your subscribers based? “Collect geolocation data during the opt-in or use email analytics to better understand the geographic distribution of your subscribers.” Where your subscribers are based
How many subscribers you have in each time zone “Whether your subscribers concentrate in specific parts of the world or are scattered across a broad range of time zones” Where are your subscribers located? Get to know your audience and dive into detailed geolocation data with Litmus Email Analytics. Sign up for Litmus →
Time Zone Empathy “Whether you’re segmenting your email list or focusing your efforts on your most important time zone, always make sure your message is relevant to your audience.” Being empathic about your subscribers’ time zones is especially important when sending time-sensitive campaigns. The more you emphasize timing in your email—with “Today only” or “Sale ends at midnight” campaigns, for example—the more crucial it is to double-check your campaign for time zone conflicts. Let’s say you’re sending a “Monday only” offer at 10am on a Monday morning in San Francisco. Without segmentation in place, your subscribers in Sydney will receive it on Tuesday, 3am local time, and will likely end up confused and frustrated.
Availability and response times: Managing expectations “Here’s how you can set the right expectations if your team can’t offer 24h support.” Email is an asynchronous form of communication and most of your customers will not expect an immediate response. But when time differences come into play, subscribers might have to wait longer than usual before they’ll hear back from you. Keep this in mind, especially when sending emails that likely trigger responses and questions, like major feature announcements or pricing changes. Consider setting up an autoresponder for your reply-to address that reflects your time zone, your support hours, and give an estimate of when subscribers can expect to hear back from you. This helps to set the right expectations.